Amtrak train smashes into huge tractor-trailer, injuring at least 52. (Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)

    INTERCESSION CITY, Fla. _ An oversized tractor-trailer trapped across the tracks. An Amtrak passenger train rocketing around a long, sweeping curve. A series of cascading miscalculations and misunderstandings that left both crews unaware of each other and of impending disaster.     The result: Amtrak's Silver Meteor, carrying 103 passengers and eight crew members, blindsided a truck carrying a mammoth, 82-ton generator Tuesday as state troopers frantically tried to flag down the train.     At least 52 people were hurt, most with cuts and bruises. The first four cars of the eight-car train, bound from Tampa, Fla., to New York, were smashed and derailed.     The impact crumbled the truck, trailer and generator and pushed them 150 yards down the tracks in a wooded, rural area about 10 miles southwest of Kissimmee in central Florida.     ``It was like a slow-motion bomb going off,'' said Mark Robinson, a deliveryman who saw the crash. ``The train cars started twisting and turning off the track.''     The train's engineer, James Thomas, 46, said he never had a chance. Amtrak officials said … 

Amtrak train smashes into huge tractor-trailer, injuring at least 52. (Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)

    INTERCESSION CITY, Fla. _ An oversized tractor-trailer trapped across the tracks. An Amtrak passenger train rocketing around a long, sweeping curve. A series of cascading miscalculations and misunderstandings that left both crews unaware of each other and of impending disaster.     The result: Amtrak's Silver Meteor, carrying 103 passengers and eight crew members, blindsided a truck carrying a mammoth, 82-ton generator Tuesday as state troopers frantically tried to flag down the train.     At least 52 people were hurt, most with cuts and bruises. The first four cars of the eight-car train, bound from Tampa, Fla., to New York, were smashed and derailed.     The impact crumbled the truck, trailer and generator and pushed them 150 yards down the tracks in a wooded, rural area about 10 miles southwest of Kissimmee in central Florida.     ``It was like a slow-motion bomb going off,'' said Mark Robinson, a deliveryman who saw the crash. ``The train cars started twisting and turning off the track.''     The train's engineer, James Thomas, 46, said he never had a chance. Amtrak officials said …